The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-03-30

and makes my blood run cold 1T ls tc
have man sit alongside of me and
crack his fingers, and consequently
during that whole interview was in
continual struggle between my desire
to listen to my good friends talk and
my other desire to strangle him. Yet
he, good, easy soul, knew nothing oi
this, and went on chatting and crack
utterly unconscious of the sup
pressed Volcano thss st til Il Eestsgsd e every
moment to burst and overwhelm him.
AN AGGRAvATING HABIT.
Now, I don't believe I am any more
nervous than the rest of my kind, and
yet, after I left my friend, thought of
so many petty annoyances like this
that disturb my peace that [ fairly
wonder that have lived as long as I
have without having murdered some
body. For instance, I know q man
whose life must be in danger all the
time because of all aggravating habit
he has of biting his nails. Whenever
he talks to me and begins to chew his
fingers I have to turn my head away,
because while look at him 1 feel as
though it is my nails he is biting and
sensation goes through me as though
every bite he took pulls out my nerves
with it. Then there is another dear
friend of MINE who often drops into
NV office for chat, and who invaria-
bly sits down at my desk and begins to
beat the "devips tattoo" on it. .tsttasEftd
it for awhile until I unconscirusly join
him in the fiendish music, and then
away we 60 with our dreary rub-a-dub
until everybody in the room rises in
revolt and demands an instant cessa-
ton of the awful noise.
How many men there are who cam
not talk with you without having hold
of you. They generally prefer but
ton on your coat, or if there is none
handy then the lapel will do. They
will pull and haul at you until your
only hope lies in the honesty of your
tailor, and you almost wish that he
had put in some bad stitches, so that
something will give way and you can
make your escape from the bore. NOT
long ago somebody gave me little Sill
yer pencil, which I in my pride hung
on my watch chain. And then my
trouble began. Two out of every three
persons met grabbed that pencil ana
played with it, pulling it out and shut
ting it and demanding to know what
it was for and how l got it, etc. In
about two weeks it was entirely worn
out and perfectly useless. I have since
been thinking seriously of getting
some sort of a pocket electric battery,
and whenever any of my friends be-
gin to daily with the watch charm
turn on the current and let him have
it lust to show him that his fingers are
where they should not be. Some peo-
pie, I suppose, would think 1 was
wrong in doing this, but let them
mount pencil like did and III guar.
antee that they will cheerfully adopt
the electric battery cure.
TwIRLiNG HIS THUMBS.
Among the other things that make
nv life miserable / hold chief the man
who sits opposite me in the street cars
and continually twirls his thumbs. l
cannot help watching him; and ! re-
member one day how astonished one
gentleman who had been twirling
away for half an hour by leaning
across the car and asking him as per.
sonal favor to reverse the motion, as
could not stand the way they were
turning any longer. He looked at me
as though 1 was little bit crazy, and
put his hands in his pockets. Have
YOU ever sat in q room where silence
was only broken by the scratch of g
bad pen in somebody's hands? Nice,
is it not?
IkneW a newspaper man whose lit
tie boy who is the proud possessor of
blackboard and takes a great deal o.
pleasure in writing on it with chalk
Now, that Journalist loves his son, ano
vet he SAYS that whenever that boy
that chalk and that blackboard come
into contact the sound produced j:
simply maddening, and he has eithel
to put all end to it at once or lncontl
nently flee the room in order to save
his mind from utter destruction. Ev'
erybody has experienced the fiendish
snorer, but as most everybody snores
ANYWAY there is always chance Of
getting even with somebody, even i
its only the wife of your bosom, There
are some persons in this world who
but for bad habit they have of fill
ing their sentences with "dy' see?" OF
asking the utterly idiotic question, II!
that 80 ?" might be worthy citizens o
the community. I don't know many
things more aggravating than to have
: q man say "Dy' see?" with every 9th
er word he utters or reply to every
thing tell him with an utterly fatu
GUS "Is that SOP"
T once heard O mother, who ha(